LIBRARY 

©ludlogical  ^fmiuary, 

PRINCETON,  N.  J 
No.  Case, 

No.  Shelf,  

No.  Book, 




. w.*.  the  Rev.  W.  B.  SPRAGUE,  D.D.  Sept.  1839. 

>0^ 


B^^gue  C^lleefion*  Vol-  ^ ^ ^ 


5 


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Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2015  . 


r- 


https://archive.org/details/africancolonizat00newy_2 


9 


PROCEEDINGS, 


ON  TDE 

J 

FORMATION  OF  THE  NEW-YORK 

- . 

STATE  COLONIZATION  SOCIETY ; 


TOGETHER  WITH 


AN  ADDRESS  TO  THE  PUBLIC, 


FROM  THE 


MANAGERS  THEREOF. 


9 


ALBANY: 

PRINTED  BY  WEBSTERS  AND  BKINNERS, 


Form  of  a Constitution  for  an  Auxiliary  Society, 

1st.  This  Society  shall  be  called , and  shall  be 

auxiliary  to  the  New-York  State  Colonization  Society. 

2d.  The  object  to  which  it  shall  be  exclusively  devoted,  shall  be 
to  aid  the  parent  Institution  at  Washington,  in  the  colonization  of 
the  Free  People  of  Colour  of  the  United  States  on  the  coast  of  Afri- 
ca— and  to  do  this  not  only  by  the  contribution  of  money,  but  by 
the  exertion  of  its  influence  to  promote  the  formation  of  other  So- 
cieties. 

3d.  An  annual  subscription  of shall  constitute  an  in- 

dividual a member  of  this  Society  ; and  the  payment,  at  any  one 
time,  of a member  for  life. 

4th.  The  oflicers  of  this  Society  shall  be  a President,  Vice- 

Presidents,  and INIanagers  ; Secretary  and  Treasurer,  to 

be  elected  annually  by  the  Society. 

5th.  The  President,  Vice-Presidents,  Secretary  and  Treasurer, 
shall  be  ex-officio  members  of  the  Board  of  Managers. 

6th.  The  Board  of  ^Managers  shall  meet  to  transact  the  busi- 
ness of  the  Society . 

7th.  The  Treasurer  shall  keep  the  accounts  of  the  Society,  as 
well  as  take  charge  of  its  funds,  and  hold  them  subject  to  an  order 
of  the  Board  of  Managers. 

8th.  The  Secretary  of  the  Society,  shall  conduct  the  correspon- 
dence, under  the  direction  of  the  Board  of  Managers,  both  with 
the  State  and  other  Societies. 


AFRICAN  COLONIZATION. 


— 

At  a meeting  of  citizens  from  different  parts  of  the  State  of 
A^ew-York,  held  at  the  session  room,  in  Beaver-street,  in  the  city 
of  Albany,  on  the  9th  day  of  April,  1829,  Col.  Elisha  Jenkins, 
of  the  county  of  Columbia,  was  called  to  iJie  chair,  and  James  O. 
Morse,  of  Otsego,  \vas  appointed  Secretary. 

The  objects  of  the  meeting  were  briefly  stated  by  Mr.  B.  P. 
Johnson,  of  Oneida,  and  a committee,  consisting  of  John  T.  Nor- 
ton and  Benjamin  F.  Butler,  of  Albany;  Benjamin  P.  Johnson, 
of  Oneida  ; Walter  Hubbell,  of  Ontario  ; John  E.  Hyde,  of  AW- 
York,  and  Duncan  M’Martin,  Jr.  of  Montgomery,  were  appointed 
to  make  the  necessary  arrangements  for  the  organization  of  a 
State  Colonization  Society.  Credentials  of  delegates  from  Utica, 
Lowville,  Whitesborough,  New-York,  Canaan,  Coluniliia  county, 
and  Canandaigua,  were  presented. 

Adjourned  to  meet  at  the  Capitol  on  Saturday,  the  11th  of  April 
instant,  at  three  o’clock  in  the  afternoon. 

Saturday^  Jipril  11,  1829. 

The  meeting  again  assembled,  in  the  Senate  chamber. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Nott,  President  of  Union  College,  offered  th® 
following  resolution. 

Resolved,  That  the  objects  of  the  American  Colonization  Socie- 
ty merit  the  aid  of  all  the  friends  of  our  country  ; of  Africa  ; and 
of  the  human  race  : that  its  past  success  in  the  great  experiments 
which  it  has  been  making,  warrants  the  expectation,  that  these  im- 
portant objects  will  at  no  very  distant  period,  be  accomplished  ; 
and  that  therefore,  this  meeting  proceed  to  organize  a State  Socie- 
ty, which  will  promote  the  views,  and  aid  the  efforts  of  this  excel- 
lent institution. 

In  support  of  this  resolution,  Dr.  N^ott  said,  that  whatever 
motives  might  have  led  to  the  formation  of  the  National  Coloniza- 
tion Society,  its'  present  claims  to  public  patronage  could  only  be 
measured  by  its  promise  of  future  benefits.  Like  those  other 
plans  of  magnanimity  and  mercy,  which,  in  this  age  of  adventur- 
ous enterprize,  have  been  brought  in  such  rapid  succession  before 
the  public  eye,  this  must  stand  upon  its  own  peculiar  merits — 


4 

and  the  previous  questions  for  decision  are,  “ Is  it  practicable  ? 
and  if  practicable,  expedient  ? 

Is  it  then  practicable  ? Here,  doubtless,  experience  is  the  wisest 
counsellor  and  the  safest  guide.  What  has  been  done,  and  done 
often,  can  again  be  done.  How  stands  the  balance  of  probabili- 
ties, in  the  ascertained  issues  of  kindred  enterprizes,  as  they  are 
found  recorded  on  the  pages  of  authentic  history  ? 

But,  not  to  insist  on  this  ; to  say  nothing  of  Greece  civilized 
by  colonies  from  Egypt ; of  Italy,  by  colonies  from  Greece  ; and 
of  Europe,  by  colonies  from  Italy  ; the  rising  and  the  risen  repub- 
lics of  America  stand  forth  before  our  eyes,  impressive  monuments 
of  what  colonization  can  effect  in  climes  more  remote,  and  amid 
circumstances  less  auspicious,  than  even  distant  and  tropical  Afri- 
ca now  presents.  Whatever  conjectural  arguments  may  have 
been  urged  against  the  possibility  of  planting  colonies  in  Africa, 
it  is  too  late  to  repeat  them  now.  Colonies  have  already  been 
planted  there  ; one  by  British,  another  by  American,  philanthropy. 
The  name  of  Sierra  Leone  is  as  familiar  as  it  is  dear  to  the  friends 
of  humanity. 

Much  must,  doubtless,  be  done  and  suffered,  before  the  colony 
at  Montserado  will  have  attained  the  same  celebrity.  Nor  is  it 
to  be  concealed  that  much  has  already  been  done  and  suffered,  in 
creating,  and  merely  sustaining  it  in  being.  Its  history  is  brief ; 
and,  till  lately,  it  has  been  a history  of  woes.  Houseless  and 
unsheltered,  the  colonists  have  had  to  contend  with  heat  and  rain, 
and  war  and  pestilence.  And  yet,  from  these  combined  causes, 
the  amount  of  suffering  and  the  Avaste  of  life,  have  been  less  at 
Montserado  than  at  Plymouth,  that  sacred  locality  where  the  pil- 
grims landed,  and  to  which  the  children  of  the  pilgrims  from  their 
ten  thousand  places  of  joyous  habitations,  still  look  back  with  so 
many  tender  and  grateful  recollections.  Ah  ! had  those  pioneers 
of  civilization,  in  this  new  world,  a moiety  of  whose  numbers  per- 
ished during  the  rigors  of  the  first  New-England  winter,  been  dis- 
heartened ; or,  had  those  friends,  whence  succors  were  derived, 
been  disheartened ; how  different  had  been  the  fame  acquired  for 
themselves — how  different  the  inheritance  bequeathed  to  their  chil- 
dren ? Neither  the  climate  nor  the  natives  of  Africa  are  so  terrible 
to  the  Negro  now,  as  the  climate  and  the  natives  of  New-England 
were  to  the  Briton  then.  And  if,  with  all  this  odds  against  them, 
a lodgement  was  made  aiid  maintained  in  the  one,  can  tliere  be  a 


5 


doubt  whether,  a lodgement  having  been  made,  it  can  be  main- 
tained in  the  other  ? There  can  be  none.  If  the  enterprize  be 
worth  executing,  it  can  be  executed.  And  the  only  remaining 
question  is  “ cui  hono^^  ? for  whose  benefit  it  is  to  be  undertaken, 
and  will  the  execution  compensate  for  the  blood  and  treasure  it 
must  cost  ? 

That  the  millions  of  Africa,  especially  that  part  of  it  with 
which  this  discussion  is  concerned,  are  ignorant,  degraded,  and 
wretched,  needs  no  proof.  And  are  they  to  continue  thus  for 
ever  ? Not  surely,  if  revelation  be  true,  and  God  merciful.  But 
how  is  a change  in  their  condition  to  be  produced'?  We  have 
heard  of  nations  sinking  into  barbarism  by  their  own  inertia,  but 
never  of  their  having  thus  arisen  therefrom.  So  far  as  history 
reaches,  at  least,  barbarians  have  been  civilized,  and  only  civilized 
by  the  influence  of  those  who  were  not  barbarians.  In  effecting 
the  elevation  of  a degraded  nation,  a nation  already  elevated  sup- 
plies to  the  philanthropist  what  Archimedes  wanted — a fulcrum 
on  which  to  plant  his  lever,  that  he  might  raise  the  world.  If  it 
be  not  quite  impossible,  it  must,  since  it  has  never  once  occurred 
during  the  lapse  of  six  thousand  years,  at  least  be  difficult,  for  a 
nation  utterly  debased  to  renovate  itself.  Vicious  habits  acquired 
and  institutions  established,  tend  to  perpetuate  themselves  ; and, 
if  permitted  to  take  their  course,  must  be  of  long  continuance,  if 
not  literally  eternal.  But,  besides  the  causes  that  bar  the  pro- 
gress of  other  barbarians,  the  progress  of  Africa  is  barred  by  an 
additional  cause.  To  Africa,  the  Slave  Trade  is  a distinctive  and 
special  curse.  While  this  continues,  her  doom  is  fixed.  It  is  not 
in  man  to  task  himself  to  great  and  continued  exertion  in  a coun- 
try where  he  is  liable  every  moment  to  be  seized  and  consigned  to 
slavery. 

It  is  not  by  legal  arguments,  or  penal  statutes,  or  armed  ships, 
that  this  accursed  traffic  can  be  prevented.  Almost  every  power 

in  Christendom  has  denounced  it.  It  has  been  declared  felony 

it  has  been  declared  piracy  ; and  the  fleets  of  Britain  and  America 
have  been  commissioned  to  drive  it  from  the  ocean.  Still,  in  de- 
fiance of  all  this  array  of  legislation  and  of  armament,  slave  ships 
ride  triumphant  on  the  ocean  ; and  in  these  floating  caverns,  less 
terrible  only  than  the  caverns  which  demons  occupy,  from  sixty  to 
eighty  thousand  wretches,  received  pinioned  from  the  coast  of 
Africa,  are  borne  annually  away  to  slavery  or  death.  Of  these 


6 


wretches  a frightful  number  are,  with  an  audacity  that  amazes, 
landed  and  disposed  of  within  the  jurisdiction  of  this  republic. 

It  is  not  by  the  blockade  of  her  ports,  but  by  the  circumvalla- 
tion  of  her  coasts,  that  Africa  can  be  shielded  against  either  the 
insinuation  or  the  assault  of  that  remorseless  passion,  the  sacra 
fames  atiri,”  that  has  for  centuries  rendered  her  habitations  in- 
secure, and  her  fields  desolate.  To  afibrd  an  adequate  protection, 
a mighty  barrier  must  every  where  be  raised  betw'een  the  oppres- 
sor and  the  oppressed  ; a barrier  neither  of  woodwork,  nor  of  ma- 
sonry, but  of  muscle  and  sinew  : a muscle  and  sinew  that  is  in- 
compatible with  slavery,  and  can  neither  be  bought  nor  sold. 

This  frightful  scourge  of  Africa  has  ceased  in  the  vicinity  of 
Sierra  Leone.  It  will  soon  have  ceased  at  Montserado,  as  it 
will  elsewhere,  as  other  colonies  are  planted,  and  other  watch- 
towers  of  freedom  arise. 

The  points  thus  defended  along  the  coast,  will  be  so  many  radi- 
ant points  to  the  interior.  And  in  the  view  of  this  double  effi- 
ciency of  the  colonists,  who  can  calculate  the  ultimate  result  ? The 
tribes  contiguous  can  hardly  fail  to  learn  from  them  something  of 
arts,  of  science,  and  of  religion  ; or  to  impart  w^hat  they  have 
learned  to  tribes  more  remote.  And  thus  those  humble  and  noise- 
less emigrants,  who  are  now  erecting  their  dw'ellings,  and  enclos- 
ing their  fields,  and  w ho  have  already  given  to  the  little  locality 
they  occupy  an  air  of  cleanliness  and  comfort,  as  novel  as  delight- 
ful in  that  desert  region,  may  be  founding,  imperceptibly,  an  empire 
destined  to  be  the  centre  of  an  enduring  and  mighty  influence  : an 
influence  that  shall  change  the  habitudes  of  man  as  w’ell  as  the  as- 
pect of  nature  ; and  that  shall  one  day  be  felt  alike  along  the  val- 
leys of  the  Senegal  and  the  Nile,  and  from  the  ridge  of  Lupata  to 
the  foot  of  Atlas.  Who  knows  that  the  landing  at  the  Cape  of 
Montserado,  will  not  be  as  pregnant  of  consequences  as  that  at  the 
rock  of  Plymouth  ? Or  that  Africa  thus  excited,  will  not,  centuries 
hence^  exhibit  as  busy  an  industry,  send  forth  as  rich  a commerce, 
and  raise  as  joyful  and  as  holy  a note  of  praise,  as  either  America 
or  Europe  ? 

But  it  is  not  Africa  alone  that  is  to  be  affected  by  the  destiny  of 
Africa.  The  empire  of  man  is  one  ; and  all  its  provinces  are  re- 
lated. By  intercourse  a reciprocity  of  benefits  is  conferred.  Nor 
to  either  will  the  measure  of  national  prosperity  be  full,  till  the  re- 
sources of  all  have  been  developed. 


7 


But  what  does  Africa  contribute  to  the  science,  or  the  virtue, 
or  even  the  wealth  of  nations  ?-  In  visiting  more  distant  Asia, 
merchantmen  traverse  her  coast  ; bat  unless  freighted  with  fet- 
ters and  commissioned  to  traffic  in  blood,  they  merely  traverse  it. 

There  are  individual  houses  in  London,  the  failure  of  which 
would  affect  the  prosperity  of  millions,  and  produce  a train  of 
evils  that  would  be  felt  on  both  the  continents  ; but  if  the  whole  of 
Western  and  Southern  Africa  were  sunk,  the  arts,  the  science, 
and  the  commerce  of  the  world  would  remain  untouched : nor 
would  the  space  thus  occupied,  vast  as  it  is,  be  missed,  unless  as 
a beacon,  by  the  mariner  as  he  crossed  the  ocean.  Unproductive 
Africa  is  already  indebted  to  the  world  for  long  arreai*s.  Her 
mountains  and  plains,  her  hills  and  vallies,  her  rivers  and  lakes 
were  never  created  to  lie  waste  and  desolate.  Nor  is  it  by  the  act 
of  God,  but  of  man,  that  this  vast  populous  domain  has  been  ren- 
dered valueless. 

This  is  not  mere  idle  speculation.  There  has  been  exported 
from  Sierra  Leone  alone,  in  a single  year,  a greater  amount  of 
value,  since  the  abolition  of  the  slave  trade,  than  was  exported  in 
the  same  period,  from  the  whole  Western  coast  of  Africa  anterior 
to  that  event.  What  then  might  not  be  expected,  if  the  change  of 
condition  that  has  taken  place  in  this  one  locality,  were  to  become 
universal  ? Were  the  slave  trade  every  where  abolished,  and  the 
African  race  for  ever  relieved  from  the  paralyzing  apprehension  of 
treachery  and  violence  ; were  Africa  throughout  regenerated,  and 
arts  and  science,  and  religion  introduced  through  all  the  terra  in- 
cognita  of  her  vast  interior  ; were  her  soil  cultivated,  her  mines 
worked,  her  water-power  rendered  productive,  and  the  agency  of 
wind  and  steam  employed  in  her  workshops,  and  on  her  waters ; 
were  her  gold  and  her  ivory,  her  sandal-wood  and  her  gums,  her 
dies  and  her  drugs,  with  all  the  rich  and  the  varied  produce  of  her 
now  forsaken  fields,  and  impenetrable  forests,  poured  down  along 
the  many  tributary  streams  into  the  Nile,  the  Niger,  the  Senegal 
and  the  Gambia,  and  thence  sent  forward  in  rich  abundance  to  the 
mart  of  nations ; w’hat  a vast  accession  would  be  made  to  the 
comfort  and  riches,  and  what  an  impulse  given  to  the  enterprise 
and  commerce  of  the  world  ! Could  such  a result  be  produced  by 
the  expenditure  of  millions,  economy,  as  well  as  philanthropy, 
would  sanction  the  expenditure.  To  have  a fourth  of  the  soil  of 
the  earth  uncultivated  or  badly  cultivated,  to  have  a fifth  of  the  hu- 


8 


man  race  unemployed,  or  employed  uselessly,  is  a mighty  draw- 
back oa  the  thrift  and  prosperity  of  the  residue,  to  which  neither 
the  philanthropist  nor  the  economist  can  ever  be  reconciled.  Were 
Europe  suddenly  sunk  to  the  condition  of  Africa,  how  great  would 
be  our  loss  ! 8o  great  would  be  our  gain,  were  Africa  suddenly 
raised  to  the  condition  of  Europe.  Nations,  like  individuals,  are 
to  each  other  reciprocally  consumers  and  producers  ; and  the  more 
numerous  and  the  more  wealthy  the  customers  of  each  become, 
the  greater  the  benefit  that  accrues  to  all. 

But  if  it  would  be  policy  in  other  nations  to  encourage  coloniza- 
tion in  Africa,  how  much  more  so  in  us  ? Many  and  great  as  were 
the  blessings  conferred  by  our  national  independence,  there  exists 
among  us  one  class  on  whom  that  event  has  conferred  no  benefits. 
1 allude  to  our  citizens  of  colour.  Citizens  whom  freedom  has 
rendered  only  more  wretched  and  debased.  It  probably  was  ex- 
pected that  the  mere  striking  off  the  chains  from  these  bondmen 
would  remove  their  disability  and  restore  them  to  society.  Time 
has  for  ever  dissipated  that  illusion.  Statutes  have  failed  either 
to  change  the  complexion,  or  to  quicken  the  intellect.  Apart  from 
the  fact  of  previous  bondage,  nature  had  interposed  a barrier  which 
they  could  not  surmount,  nor  we  demolish. 

Hence,  and  notwithstanding  all  the  immunities  and  privileges 
that  legal  enactments  could  confer,  they  remain  among  us  an  out- 
cast and  isolated  race  ; shunned  at  least,  if  not  contemned  and 
despised.  They  may  be  met  as  convicts  in  penitentiaries  and 
prisons  ; they  may  be  met  as  menials  in  stables  and  kitchens  ; but 
excluded  from  the  parlor  of  fashion  and  the  hall  of  science,  they 
are  no  where  met,  not  even  in  the  temple  of  grace,  as  equals  and 
companions.  All  the  incentives  to  exertion  and  enterprise  are  re- 
moved from  them  ; all  the  avenues  to  wealth  and  honor  are  barred 
against  them.  Degraded  themselves,  they  degrade  the  very  la- 
bor which  they  perform  ; and  hence  it  is  tliat  temperance  and 
honesty  are  well  nigh  banished  from  the  vocation  which  they  fol- 
low. And  yet  it  is  not  inferiority  of  faculties,  but  the  force  of  con- 
dition, that  has  produced  this  degradation. 

Recent  events  in  a neighboring  republic  evince  that  the  Afri- 
can race  are  capable  of  as  intuitive  a perception,  as  sublime  an 
energy,  and  as  dauntless  a fortitude,  as  the  residue  of  the  species, 
and  that  they  only  require  a theatre  of  action,  and  motive  to  act, 
to  wipe  away  the  reproach  so  long  and  so  undeservedly  cast  upon 


9 


I them.  With  us  they  have  been  degraded  by  slavery,  and  still  fur- 
ther degraded  by  the  mockery  of  nominal  freedom.  We  have  en- 
deavored, but  endeavored  in  vain,  to  restore  them  either  to  self- 
respect,  or  to  the  respect  of  others.  It  is  not  our  fault  that  we 
have  failed  ; it  is  not  theirs.  It  has  resulted  from  a cause  over 
which  neither  they,  nor  we,  can  ever  have  control.  Here,  there- 
fore, they  must  be  for  ever  debased  : more  than  this,  they  must  be 
for  ever  useless  ; more  even  than  this,  they  must  be  for  ever 
a nuisance,  from  which  it  were  a blessing  for  society  to  be 
rid.  And  yet  they,  and  they  only,  are  qualified  for  colonizing 
Africa.  Africa  is  their  country.  In  colour,  in  constitution,  in 
habitude,  they  are  suited  to  its  climate.  There  they  may  be  bless- 
ed, and  be  a blessing.  Here  they  can  be  neither.  Benevolence, 
patriotism,  self-interest,  all  pronounce  alike  on  the  expediency  of  _ 
their  removing.  Let  us  then  in  mercy  to  them,  in  mercy  to  our- 
selves, and  in  mercy  to  Africa,  favor  and  facilitate  their  removal. 

Here  we  might  rest  the  argument.  But  the  population  of  whom 
we  have  been  speaking  is  not  the  only  population  among  us  to 
whom  its  conclusivencss  applies. 

Strange  that  it  should  be  so,  yet  so  it  is,  in  this  land  of  freedom 
slavery  exists,  and  freemen  are  attended  and  served  by  slaves. 
This  only  institution  of  tyranny  is  a curse  engendered  in  other 
times,  and  under  a different  form  of  government.  Still  it  is  a 
curse  not  the  less  real,  or  the  less  grievous,  on  that  account : a 
curse  that  has  grown  with  our  growth,  and  strengthened  with  our 
strength,  till  it  threatens,  if  not  the  being,  at  least  the  well-being 
of  our  republic. 

I am  aware  that  our  domestic  slavery  is  considered  by  many  as 
merely  a local  evil  ; and  that  it  has  become  fashionable  to  think, 
and  speak  of  it,  as  though  we  at  the  IVorth  were  no  way  injplicated 
in  its  guilt,  or  liable  to  be  afiected  by  that  ultimate  \engranc9  it 
threatens  to  inflict.  Is  it  then  forgotten  that  slavery  was  once  le- 
galized in  New'England  ; or  is  it  unknown  that,  till  recently,  it 
was  legalized  in  New-York  ? Meet  we  not  with  the  memorials  of 
Its  once  greater  prevalence  in  those  degraded  menials  that  still 
carry  about  with  them  the  print  of  chains,  retain  the  manners,  and 
speak  the  dialect  of  bondage  ? If  the  number  of  blacks  and  of 
slaves  be  less  at  the  North  than  at  the  South,  we  owe  this  envi- 
able distinction  to  our  climate,  not  our  virtue.  It  was  neither  the 
foresight  nor  the  piety  of  the  pilgrims,  but  the  good  providence 
of  God,  that  traced  the  line®  of  their  inheritance  on  this  side  the 

2 


10 


, natural  limit  of  negro  habitation.  If  the  planter  of  the  South  has 
long  appeared  in  the  odious  character  of  receiver  of  stolen  men^  the 
trader  of  the  North  has  as  long  appeared  in  the  still  more  odious 
character  of  man-stealer. 

It  must  be  admitted — with  humiliation  indeed — but  still  it  must 
be  admitted,  that  with  New-England  capital  slave  ships  have  been 
built,  and  with  New-England  seamen  navigated.  In  New-Eng- 
land,  too,  have  stood  the  work-shops  in  which  those  yokes  and 
manacles  were  forged  that  weighed  on  the  limbs  of  the  captive 
negro  during  his  passage  to  bondage.  On  Virginia,  at  least,  sla- 
very was  forced  contrary  to  her  will,  and  against  her  remonstrance. 
Can  as  much  be  said  in  favor  of  other  and  more  northern  colo- 
nies ? 

But  whatever  may  have  been  tbe  comparative  guilt  of  the  par- 
ties concerned  in  that  worst  of  abominations,  the  making  mer- 
chandize of  men,  the  alarming  consequence  of  their  joint  iniquity, 
is  sufficiently  apparent  by  the  existence  among  us  of  more  than 
one  million  six  hundred  thousand  slaves.  This  is  an  abatement 
of  national  prosperity  connected  with  no  alleviating  circumstance  ; 
nor  is  there  any  softening  light  in  which  this  horrid  feature  in  our 
condition  can  be  viewed.  Slavery,  in  all  its  forms,  is  odious — in 
all  its  bearings  hurtful.  It  is  an  evil  gratuitous  and  unmixed ; 
and  equally  an  evil  to  the  slave,  his  master,  and  the  state. 

That  the  horrible  cruelties  elsewhere  practised  are  of  rare  oc= 
currence  in  the  United  States,  may  readily  be  believed.  But  that 
slavery,  even  here,  is  maintained  without  cruelty,  affirm  this  who 
may,  is  not  to  be  believed.  No  ; if  there  be  either  truth  in  his- 
tory, or  uniformity  in  nature,  it  is  not  to  be  believed.  Not  because 
the  owners  of  slaves  are  masters,  but  because  they  are  men.  For 
when,  or  where,  or  by  whom  has  absolute  power  been  irresponsi- 
bly exercised,  and  yet  not  abused  ? 

But  to  say  nothing  of  bonds,  and  stripes,  and  imprisonments  ; 
and  though  it  were  admitted  that  with  respect  to  mere  animal  exis- 
tence, slaves  were  subsisted  as  well,  and  treated  as  kindly  as 
other  animals — who  can  think,  without  shuddering,  of  one  million 
six  hundred  thousand  human  beings,  with  their  countless  pro- 
geny through  all  future  generations,  excluded  from  human  sym- 
pathy, deprived  of  civil  and  of  personal  rights,  sold  from  master 
to  master,  transferred  from  plantation  to  plantation,  moving  and 
forbearing  to  move  at  the  bidding  of  a driver  ; denied  the  means 


11 


of  education  ; denied  the  consolations  of  religion  ; denied  the 
reading  of  the  bible ; denied  even  the  public  worship  of  God  ; 
and  reduced  both  by  usage  and  by  penal  enactment,  as  far  as  it  is 
in  the  power  of  man  to  reduce  a being,  conscious  and  immortal  like 
himself,  to  the  mere  condition  of  a brute  ; who  can  think  of  this 
without  shuddering  ? 

Though  the  evil  of  slavery  to  the  master  be  less  terrible,  it  is 
not  less  real.  And  here  again,  to  say  nothing  of  the  dread  of  plots 
and  insurrections  that  must  occasionally  cross  the  mind  ; to  say 
nothing  of  the  habitual  absence  of  that  joyous  feeling  of  security, 
that  springs  from  a conscious  interchange  of  benefits  among  the 
different  classes  of  a free  community  ; to  say  nothing  of  the  thil- 
ling  thought  that  we  derive  our  food  and  raiment  from  the  reluc- 
tant toil  of  fellow  creatures  who  surround  us  in  the  capacity  of 
slaves,  by  whom  our  persons  are  abhorred,  and  whose  fears  are 
the  only  tenure  by  which  even  life  is  held  ; to  say  nothing  of  these 
things,  it  is  as  little  conducive  to  virtue  as  to  happiness,  to  be 
placed  in  circumstances  where  power  may  be  abused  with  impu- 
nity, and  injury  inflicted  without  resistance. 

But  I will  not  dw^ell  upon  this  article.  Whatever  slavery  may 
be  to  the  master,  to  the  state  it  is  confessedly  a calamity.  Every 
free  citizen  added  to  the  republic  is  an  addition  to  its  essential 
strength  and  riches  : every  slave,  to  its  poverty  and  weakness. 
The  more,  therefore,  the  latter  encrease,  the  more  the  community 
are  empoverished  and  enfeebled.  How  much  greater  would  be 
our  present  national  strength,  and  how  much  greater  our  prospec- 
tive blessedness,  if  the  million  and  a half  of  slaves  w'e  already 
possess  were  transported  ; the  mass  of  ignorance  and  degradation 
inseparable  from  their  presence  swept  away,  and  their  place  sup- 
plied by  an  equal  number  of  educated  enterprising  freemen,  sym- 
pathizing in  our  sympathies,  attached  to  our  institutions,  glorying 
in  the  glory  of  the  republic,  and  ready  to  exert  their  influence  in 
the  advancement  of  its  interests,  or  to  shed  their  blood  in  its  de- 
fence ? 

But  the  full  curse  of  slavery  is  not  yet  developed.  It  is  a mor- 
tal malady,  as  yet  indeed,  in  an  inceptive  state,  and  preying  on 
the  extremities  of  the  body  politic  : but  it  is  a malady  that  is  si- 
lently extending  itself,  and  which,  if  not  speedily  arrested,  may 
one  day  reach  the  seat  of  life.  It  is  idle  to  speak  lightly  of  our 
danger  : idle  to  shut  our  eyes  against  it.  The  prudent  man  fore- 
seeth  the  evil. 


12 


There  ie  already  existing  among  us  a slave  population  greater 
by  half  a million  than  the  whole  population  of  the  colonies  at  the 
time  of  their  first  and  their  last  numbering,  before  they  engaged 
in  the  struggle  for  independence.  In  1820,  our  slave  population 
amounted  to  1,500,000.  Their  number  doubles  in  about  twenty 
years.  The  prospective  calculation  is  therefore  neither  doubtful 
nor  difficult.  If  their  present  rate  of  increase  continues,  the  steps 
of  progression  will  be  from  1,500,000,  to  3,000,000 ; to  6,000,000; 
to  12,000,000  ; to  24,000,000  ! with  which  number  the  next 
century  will  commence,  carrying  forward  to  a still  more  fright- 
' ful  extent  this  interminable  series. 

Bu-t  not  to  pursue  the  calculation  beyond  the  century  in  which 
w’e  live,  and  to  the  close  of  which  some  who  are  now  living  may 
remain  alive,  the  prospect  of  a census  in  which  24,000,000  of 
slaves  shall  be  returned  has  enough  of  humiliation  and  sorrow  in 
. it.  Twenty-four  millions  of  slaves  ! And  is  this  republic  so  soon 
to  embosom  such  an  appalling  amount  of  ignorant,  vicious,  de- 
graded, and  brutal  population  ! What  a drawback  from  our 
strength  ; what  a tax  on  our  own  resources  ; what  a hindrance  to 
our  growth  ; what  a stain  on  our  character  / and  what  an  im- 
pediment to  the  fulfilment  of  our  destiny  ! Could  our  worst  ene- 
mies, or  the  worst  enemies  of  republics,  wish  us  a severer  reproach, 
or  a heavier  judgment  ? Twenty-four  millions  of  slaves  ! Though 
even  then,  as  now,  they  should  submissively  bow  their  neck  to  the 
yoke,  and  bare  their  back  to  the  lash,  and  ply  their  task  at  a dri- 
ver's bidding,  how  will  it  tell  in  history  ; and  what  a showing  for 
a nation  to  make  who  are  jealous  of  their  rights  and  boastful  of 
their  liberty ; a nation  held  up  as  an  example  to  other  nations  ; 
whose  sympathy  distant  and  oppressed  humanity  enjoys  ; whose 
rebuke  the  holy  alliance  have  felt,  and  on  the  symbol  of  whose 
faith  there  remains  inscribed,  among  truths  held  sacred  and  self- 
evident,  ^ that  all  men  are  born  free  and  equal ; that  they  are  en- 
“ dowed  by  their  Creator  with  certain  unalienable  rights  ; and 
“ that  among  these  rights  are — life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of 
happiness’’  ? 

Though  we  were  sure  of  uninterrupted  tranquility,  twenty-four 
millions  of  slaves  to  a young  and  a free  people  must  be  equally  a 
calamity  and  a disgrace.  But  are  we  sure  of  uninterrupted  tran- 
quility I During  this  perpetual  increase  of  ignorant  and  slumber- 
ing enemies  whthin,  are  we  sure  that  wakeful  and  sagacious  ene- 


13 


mies  without  will  not  discover  our  vulnerable  point,  and  inculcat- 
ing in  their  turn  upon  our  slaves  those  lessons  of  freedom  which 
we  have  inculcated  on  their  subjects,  and  superadding  force  to 
counsel,  in  some  awful  moment,  direct,  to  the  overthrow  of  this  re- 
public, these  tremendous  and  unnatural  elements  of  its  own  crea- 
tion ? 

Or  should  our  foreign  enemies,  less  quick-sighted  than  we  have 
any  right  to  apprehend  they  will  be,  leave  us  unmolested  to  abide 
the  slower  but  not  less  fatal  consequences  of  protracted  slavery, 
is  there  no  danger  that  there  will,  among  a people  goaded  from  age 
to  age,  at  length  arise  some  second  Touissant  Louverture,  who 
reckless  of  consequences,  shall  array  a force  and  cause  a move- 
ment throughout  the  zone  of  bondage,  which,  however  long  or 
short  its  continuance,  shall,  like  the  movement  of  Hyder  Ally,  only 
leave  behind  it  plantations  waste,  and  mansions  desolate  ? Is  it  to 
be  believed  that  this  tremendous  physical  force  will  remain  for  ever 
spell-bound  and  quiescent  ? And  that  millions  after  millions  will 
arise  in  being  in  a land  of  freedom,  and  surrounded  by  the  monu- 
ments of  freedom,  and  yet  never  attempt  to  exercise  their  preroga- 
tive and  assert  their  rights  ? And,  in  the  prospect  of  such  a possi- 
ble contest,  who  does  not  tremble  for  his  country,  and  the  more  so 
when  it  is  considered  that  God  is  just  ? 

I am  aware  it  has  been  said  by  one  whose  view’s,  in  general,  on 
this  subject  are  as  enlightened  as  they  are  liberal,  that  any  success- 
ful resistance  of  the  slave  must  be  remote  : “ for  at  any  time  within 
“ sixty  or  a hundred  years,  the  beacon-fires  of  insurrection  would 
“ only  rally  the  strength  of  the  nation.’’  And  I am  also  aware 
that  it  has  been  said,  in  the  same  spirit  of  conciliation,  “ that  there 
“ is  hardly  any  enterprize  to  which  the  militia  of  Vermont  or 
“ Connecticut  would  march  with  more  zeal  than  to  crush  a servile 
“ rebellion.” 

It  may  be  even  so.  I know  it  would  be  remembered  by  them 
that  southern  men  were  at  the  side  of  their  fathers  when  they  brav- 
ed the  Canadian  snows,  and  scaled  the  icy  bulwarks  of  Quebec  : 
that  the  hunting  shirt  of  the  South  was  seen  at  the  heights  of  Cam- 
bridge, and  that  ere  it  was  seen,  a cry  was  sent  forward,  “ go  on  ; 
we  are  hastening  to  support  you.”  But  I also  know  it  will  be  re- 
membered, that  w’hen  the  South  came  to  the  assistance  of  the 
North,  it  was  in  the  spirit  of  freemen,  and  to  co-operate  in  the  es- 
tablishment of  freedom.  It  was  not  to  bind,  but  to  break  the  fet- 
ters of  the  captive,  and  set  free  the  oppressed  from  the  oppressor. 


14 


But  should  the  militia  of  Vermont  or  Connecticut  ever  be  sum- 
moned to  such  an  enterprize,  (which  may  Heaven  prevent !) 
whether  they  obeyed  with  alacrity  or  with  reluctance,  it  would  be  an 
enterprize  in  which  there  would  be  no  fields  of  glory  to  gather, 
nor  laurels  of  honor  to  be  won.  And  though  necessity  were  laid 
upon  them,  as  they  advanced  along  the  line  of  their  march,  the 
thought  must  be  saddening  that  they  were  going  to  employ  in  the 
re-establishnlent  of  slavery,  those  arms  inherited  from  their  fathers, 
and  which  their  fathers  employed  only  for  the  overthrow  of  ty- 
rants ; and  still  more  saddening  must  be  the  thought,  that  no  dis- 
interested being,  in  either  earth  or  heaven,  sympathized  in  the 
cause  they  were  marching  to  espouse,  and  that  not  an  attribute  of 
God  w’as  on  their  side  ! 

But  in  whatever  spirit  such  a march  were  undertaken,  it  would 
be  as  barren  of  benefits  as  of  glory.  The  very  occasion  that  made 
it  necessary  would  make  it  nugatory  ; and  faithless  would  be  the 
hope  that  rested  on  it.  The  vengeance  that  bondmen  execute  is 
sudden  vengeance. 

Distant  succor  would  arrive  too  late  to  prevent  its  execution. 
The  hostile  slave  might  afterw'ards  be  crushed,  and  desolation  car- 
ried a second  time  over  the  domains  of  the  master ; but  his  life 
could  not  be  restored,  nor  his  authority,  thus  shaken,  re-establish- 
ed. The  race  of  slaves  may,  indeed,  should  they  become  rebel- 
lious, be  exterminated  ; but  slavery  itself,  on  a great  scale,  can 
never,  under  a government  like  ours,  be  long  upheld  by  military 
force.  Whenever  such  a force  becomes  requisite  the  system  itself 
must  perish.  Slave  labor,  even  now,  is  not  the  most  productive 
labor,  and  should  it  hereafter  become  charged  with  the  additional 
expense  of  troops  to  enforce  it,  it  will  cease  to  be  enforced,  for 
it  will  no  longer  be  worth  enforcing  : it  being  obviously  cheaper  to 
employ  the  yeomanry,  whether  of  the  North  or  South,  as  cultiva- 
tors of  the  field,  than  to  employ  them  as  militia  to  enforce  its  cul- 
tivation. 

But  it  is  not  by  insurrection  on  the  one  part,  or  recourse  to  arms 
on  the  other,  that  the  question  of  slavery  with  us  is  likely  to  be 
decided.  Its  existence  at  present  depends,  as  its  continuance 
must  hereafter,  much  less  on  physical  force  than  on  the  force  of 
opinion.  The  existence  of  slavery,  however,  bespeaks  an  unnat- 
ural state  of  things.  In  whatever  society  the  few  lord  it  over  the 
many,  the  balance  of  energies  is  disturbed  ; and  there  will  be  a 


15 


constant  tendency  in  the  system  to  weaken  the  preponderance  of 
power,  and  restore  the  equilibrium.  Even  in  governments  less 
popular  than  our  own,  this  tendency  is  apparent,  Roman  slavery 
has  long  since  ceased.  Feudal  tyranny  has  passed  away  from  Eu- 
rope, and  the  condition  of  the  cerfs  of  Saxony,  and  the  boors  of 
Russia,  is  ameliorating  ; and,  though  not  free,  they  are  gradually 
approximating  towards  freedom. 

But  there  are  causes  that  render  the  perpetuity  of  slavery  here 
more  difficult  than  elsewhere,  and  more  difficult  in  the  present, 
than  in  former  ages. 

Domestic  slavery  is  not  abhorrent  to  the  feelings  of  a communi- 
ty accustomed  to  political  slavery,  nor  inconsistent  in  principle 
with  governments  founded  on  prescriptive  and  hereditary  privilege. 
It  harmonizes  with  the  institutions  of  Tunis,  Morocco,  Algiers, 
and  the  other  provinces  of  Turkish  despotism.  Religion  even 
sanctions  it  ; and  it  is  felt  to  be  as  righteous  as  it  is  convenient  to 
compel  the  followers  of  Christ  to  become  hewers  of  wood  and  draw- 
ers of  water  to  the  followers  of  Mahomet.  With  us  it  is  otherwise. 
iSlavery  is  here  a perfect  anomaly.  It  stands  out  by  itself  an 
isolated  institution,  unsupported,  unconnected,  and  at  variance  with 
all  our  other  institutions.  It  is  at  variance  with  the  spirit  of  our 
government  ; at  variance  with  its  letter.  It  is  at  variance  with 
our  political  principles,  at  variance  with  our  religious  principles, 
revolting  to  our  moral  feelings,  and  crosses  all  our  habits  of  thought 
and  action.  And  can  there  be  a question  whether  slavery  under 
such  circumstances,  in  such  a country,  and  among  such  a people, 
can  be  eternal  ? If  villanage  in  Britain,  and  even  in  Gaul,  has 
ceased  ; if  the  cerfs  of  Saxony  and  the  boors  of  Russia  are  rising 
in  the  scale  of  being,  and  there  be  even  hope  that  the  degraded 
Hindoo  will  be  one  day  disenthralled  by  the  diffusion  of  science, 
and  the  slow  but  resistless  march  of  public  opinion,  is  there  no 
hope  of  disenthralment  for  the  African,  who  breaths  the  air,  and 
sees  the  light,  and  treads  the  soil  of  freedom  ? Impossible  ! Such 
an  outrage  can  not  be  perpetual.  The  constitution  of  man,  of  na- 
ture, of  heaven  and  earth,  must  change,  or  slavery  be  subverted. 
It  cannot  stand  against  the  progress  of  society.  Its  doom  has 
been  pronounced  already  ; and  the  forward  movement  of  the  world 
will  overthrow  it. 

Is  it  forgotten  that  this  abomination  was  once  sanctioned  by 
even  ecclesiastical  authority  ; and  that  the  cross  and  the  crescent 


16 


were  alike  arrayed  on  its  side  ? Is  it  forgotten  that  the  negro  race 
have  been  solemnly  consigned  to  perpetual  bondage  by  the  highest 
authority  in  Christendom,  because  they  never  attended  mass,  and 
w’ere  of  the  colour  of  the  damned  ? And  thereafter  that  centuries 
rolled  away  during  which  Africa  was  considered  as  rightfully  given 
up  to  plunder  by  Christian  nations  ; who,  without  compunction  and 
without  regret,  conspired  to  ravage  her  coast  and  reduce  her  cap- 
tive sons  to  slavery  ? 

Nor  w^as  it  till  our  owui  times  that  the  spell  which  had  so  long 
bound  the  understanding,  and  the  moral  sense  of  Christendom,  was 
broken.  There  are  those  now  living  who  remember  when  the 
slave  trade,  unassailed  and  w ithout  an  enemy,  remained  interwoven 
with  the  policy,  and  intrenched  in  the  prepossessions  of  every 
Christian  nation  ; when  the  king,  and  the  parliament,  and  the  peo- 
ple, of  even  Britain,  stood  firm  in  its  defence  ; w hen  in  opposition 
to  this  array  of  opinion  and  of  power,  Grenville  Sharp  first  raised 
his  voice,  and  Clarkson  and  Wilberforce,  and  their  coadjutors 
took  their  stand  ; and  who  remember  too  the  contempt  wdth  which 
the  first  humble  efforts  of  these  men  of  mercy  were  regarded  : ef- 
forts which  W'ere  destined  to  shake,  and  w'hich  have  already  shak- 
en, the  system  they  assailed  to  its  base,  and  which  have  changed 
the  current  of  feeling  throughout  the  w'orld.  The  slave,  of  w hat- 
ever cast  or  colour,  has  long  since  been  declared  free  the  moment 
he  sets  his  foot  on  British  soil  ; and  the  trade  in  slaves,  already 
abolished  by  Britain,  has  been  denounced  by  almost  every  Chris- 
tian nation. 

Every  w’here,  as  discussion  has  increased,  the  friends  of  slavery 
have  diminished  : and  results  as  memorable  have  been  effected  on 
this  side  the  Atlantic  as  on  the  other.  Time  was  when  slavery 
sat  as  easy  on  the  conscience  of  the  puritan  of  the  North,  as  the 
planter  of  the  South  : when  statesmen  of  the  purest  patriotism, 
and  clergymen  of  the  loftiest  intellect  New'-England  ever  boasted, 
were  found  among  its  champions  ; and  when,  even  there,  men  of 
every  rank,  as  much  expected  their  slaves  as  their  lands  to  de- 
scend in  perpetuity  to  their  children. 

I The  slave  trade,  however,  has  not  only  been  abolished  by  the 
j national  republic,  but  slavery  itself  has  also  been  abolished  in  the 
w'hole  of  New’-England,  New- Jersey  and  New”-York.  In  Dela- 
ware and  Maryland  it  is  waning  to  its  close,  and  in  Virginia, 
though  it  exists  in  strength,  yet  its  existence  is  abhorred  : w'hile,  by 


17 


I the  rise  of  kindred  republics  in  Spanish  America,  it  has,  through 
/ vast  and  contiguous  territories,  suddenly  ceased  to  exist. 

These  are  splendid  triumphs  which  the  march  of  public  opinion 
has  achieved.  It  is  still  on  the  advance,  gathering  momentum  as 
it  advances.  From  the  North  and  from  the  South  alike,  an  influ- 
ence will  be  sent  into  that  narrow  zone  of  bondage  now  remaining 
between  two  lands  of  freedom.  Though  the  dwellers  in  that  zone 
might  resist  the  servile  force  that  will  from  age  to  age  accumulate, 
there  is  a mightier  moral  force  accumulating,  which  they  can  not 
resist.  No  matter  how  bold  the  attitude  they  may  assume ; no 
matter  how  stern  the  decrees  they  may  pass  ; no  matter  how  des- 
perate the  measures  they  may  adopt,  the  result  will  be  the  same. 
It  is  impossible  to  stay  this  forward  movement  of  society,  and  up- 
hold abuses  that  shock  the  conscience  and  cross  the  prevalent 
opinions  of  mankind.  The  more  desperate  the  measures  resorted 
to,  the  sooner  the  foundation  on  which  they  are  based  will  sink  be- 
neath the  pressure.  And  the  posterity  of  the  generation  now  so 
intent  on  sustaining  slavery  will  not  consent  to  its  being  sustained. 
, There  is  not  an  enlightened  patriot  at  the  South,  who  does  not 
already  abhor  the  system  who  does  not  regard  it  as  an  evil  : who 
does  not  desire  its  abolition.  Our  brethren  of  the  South  have  the 
same  sympathies,  the  same  moral  sentiments,  the  same  love  of 
liberty  as  ourselves.  By  them,  as  by  us,  slavery  is  felt  to  be  an 
evil,  a hindrance  to  our  prosperity,  and  a blot  upon  our  character. 
That  it  exists  to  such  a fearful  extent  among  them  is  not  the  re- 
sult of  choice,  but  of  necessity.  It  was  in  being  when  they  were 
born,  and  has  been  forced  on  them  by  a previous  generation. 

Can  any  considerate  man,  in  the  view  of  what  has  been  done, 
and  what  is  now  doing,  believe  that  amid  so  many  merciful  de- 
signs, so  many  benevolent  activities,  the  negro  slave  will  experi- 
ence no  deliverance  1 That  the  master  will  remain  for  ever  undis- 
turbed by  the  presence  of  stripes  and  chains,  and  continue  without 
relentings  from  year  to  year,  from  generation  to  generation,  to  eat 
the  bread  and  wear  the  raiment,  and  export  the  staple,  produced  by 
the  tears  and  sweat  of  bondmen  ? That  the  free  and  enlightened  in- 
habitants of  this  proud  republic  will  go  on  celebrating  their  fourth 
of  July  ; reading  their  declaration  of  independence  ; and,  regard- 
less of  the  groans  of  so  many  millions  held  in  bondage,  persist  in 
the  mockery  of  holding  up  before  the  eyes  of  reproaching  despots, 
of  eulogizing  republics,  and  an  insulted  universe,  the  ensign  of 

3 


18 


liberty  ? It  cannot  be.  To  sustain  such  an  abuse,  under  such  cir- 
cumstances, is  impossible.  There  needs  no  domestic  insurrection, 
no  foreign  interference,  to  subvert  an  institution  so  repugnant  to 
our  feelings,  so  repugnant  to  all  our  other  institutions.  Public 
opinion  has  already  pronounced  on  it  ; and  the  moral  energy  of 
the  nation  will  sooner  or  later  effect  its  overthrow. 

But  the  solemn  question  here  arises — in  what  condition  will  this 
momentous  change  place  us  ? The  freed  men  of  other  countries 
have  long  since  disappeared,  having  been  amalgamated  in  the 
general  mass.  Here  there  can  be  no  amalgamation.  Our  manu- 
mitted bondmen  have  remained  already  to  the  third  and  fourth,  as 
they  will  to  the  thousandth,  generation — a distinct,  a degraded, 
and  a wretched  race.  When  therefore  the  fetters,  whether  grad- 
ually or  suddenly,  shall  be  stricken  off,  and  stricken  off  they  will 
be,  from  those  accumulating  millions  yet  to  be  born  in  bondage,  it 
is  evident  that  this  land,  unless  some  outlet  be  provided,  will  be 
flooded  with  a population  as  useless  as  it  will  be  wretched  ; a 
population  which,  with  every  increase,  will  detract  from  our 
strength,  and  only  add  to  our  numbers,  our  pauperism  and  our 
crimes.  Whether  bond  or  free,  their  presence  will  be  for  ever  a 
calamity.  Why  then,  in  the  name  of  God,  should  we  hesitate  to 
encourage  their  departure  ? It  is  as  wise  as  merciful  to  send  back 
to  Africa,  as  citizens,  those  sons  of  hers,  whom,  as  slaves  and 
in  chains,  %ve  have  to  our  injury  borne  from  thence. 

The  existence  of  this  race  among  us,  a race  that  can  neither 
share  our  blessings  nor  incorporate  in  our  society,  is  already  felt 
to  be  a curse  ; and  though  the  only  curse  entailed  on  us,  if  left  to 
take  its  course,  it  will  become  the  greatest  that  could  befall  the 
nation. 

Shall  we  then  cling  to  if  ; and  by  refusing  the  timely  expedient 
how  offered  for  deliverance,  retain  and  foster  the  alien  enemies 
till  they  have  multiplied  into  such  greater  numbers,  and  risen  into 
such  mightier  consequence,  as  will  for  ever  bar  the  possibility  of 
their  departure,  and  by  barring  it,  bar  also  the  possibility  of  fulfill- 
ing our  own  high  destiny  ? As  yet  it  requires  only  to  provide  an 
asylum,  and  the  means  of  reaching  it,  to  mitigate,  if  not  entirely 
to  remove,  this  alarming  evil.  The  self-interest  and  the  benevo- 
lence of  masters  will  do  the  rest.  Many  will  eventually  be  colo- 
nized, and  all  manumitted. 

Encouraged  by  the  prospect  which  the  measures  of  this  society 


19 


have  opened,  the  process  of  giving  freedom  to  their  bondmen  has 
already  commenced  among  the  planters  of  the  south.  If  the  way 
be  kept  open  it  will  progress  ; and  progress  as  fast  as  prudence 
and  humanity  would  dictate.  And  thus  the  time  may  yet  arrive 
when  a second  and  a finished  independence  shall  be  achieved,  nor 
print  of  vassal  footstep  defile  our  soil,  nor  chain  be  worn  beneath 
our  sun  of  freedom  ! 

Gerrit  Smith,  Esq.  of  Madison  county,  seconded  the  resolu- 
tion. 

He  argued,  that  the  white  population  of  this  country,  or  at 
least,  of  a very  large  section  of  it,  must  eventually  amalgamate 
with  the  rapidly  growing  millions  of  blacks  in  it ; or  that  the  one 
must  give  up  the  soil  to  the  other  and  seek  another  home.  He 
showed  the  better  title  of  the  whites  to  this  land,  and  then  asked 
where  the  blacks  should  go  ? Whether  we  should  colonize  them  in 
some  remote  portion  of  our  new  territory,  or  facilitate  their  removal 
to  St  Domingo,  or  some  other  West  India  island  ? To  such  a 
disposition  of  our  coloured  population,  he  contended  there  were 
very  great  objections.  A populous  nation  in  our  vicinity,  of  such 
a peculiar  and  degraded  character  as  not  to  permit  it  to  come  into 
the  great  family  of  nations  on  this  continent,  is,  in  many  points  of 
view,  extremely  undesirable  and  dangerous.  We  must  send 
them  back  to  their  father-land.  For  every  reason,  it  is  their  only 
home. 

Mr.  S.  argued,  that  the  American  Colonization  Society  was 
pursuing  the  only  effectual  course  for  suppressing  the  slave  trade ; 
that  experience  had  abundantly  proved  the  ineffectualness  of  all 
laws  and  treaties  against  it ; that  it  would  never  cease  so  long  as 
it  could  be  prosecuted  ; and,  that  it  could  be  until  the  slave  coast 
was  lined  with  settlements  of  Christian  freemen.  The  suppression 
of  the  slave  trade,  if  the  society  accomplished  no  further  good, 
would  make  the  society  for  ever  dear  to  every  friend  of  mankind. 

Mr.  S.  enlarged  on  the  degraded  condition  of  Africa,  and  show- 
ed how  hopeless  would  be  all  attempts  to  pour  in  regenerating  in- 
fluences upon  her  from  the  North  or  East,  and  how  certain  it  is, 
that  it  must  be  left  to  settlements,  which  Christian  nations  make 
on  her  western  coast,  to  radiate  the  beams  of  civilization  and 
Christianity  through  that  black  empire  of  ignorance  and  sin. 

Mr.  S.  considered  some  of  the  objections  that  are  raised  to  the 
practicablenesB  of  the  scheme  of  the  Colonization  Society,  and 


20 


said  that  they,  who  talk  and  write  about  the  society  needing  tens 
and  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars  to  accomplish  that  scheme, 
misapprehended  the  extent  of  the  undertaking  of  the  society.  The 
society  has  not  undertaken  to  remove  the  whole  of  our  black  popu- 
lation to  Africa,  but  to  make  a beginning  in  this  work  so  necessary 
to  be  done,  and  when  the  society  shall  have  a hundred  or  even 
fifty  thousand  colonists  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  its  own  part  of  the 
Tv'ork  wdll  be  done  and  the  society  dissolved.  But  little  more  then 
can  be  expected  of  the  society  than  to  pursue  the  work  of  coloniza- 
tion so  far — to  carry  forward  their  settlements  there  to  such  a pitch 
of  prosperity,  and  give  them  such  an  inviting  aspect,  that  a strong 
desire  will  be  created  in  our  black  population  to  emigrate  to  them. 
The  society  is  but  laboring  to  form  there  an  attractive  nucleus, 
around  w'hich  the  blacks  of  our  country  may  spontaneously  gather, 
and  grow  into  a great  nation.  He  relied  on  that  strong  desire  to 
emigrate,  to  accomplish  the  whole  remaining  work.  For  the  abili- 
ty to  gratify  that  desire,  we  depend  much  on  the  resources  of  the 
blacks  themselves  ; much  on  the  aid  of  our  governments  ; much 
on  individual  benevolence  : and  to  how  great  an  extent  will  self- 
interest  prompt  our  white  population  to  make  large  contributions 
to  get  rid  of  a people,  subsisting  to  so  great  a degree  on  private 
charity,  and  creating  so  much  public  insecurity  and  expense,  as 
our  poor  houses  and  prisons  abundantly  testify,  by  their  peculiar 
addictedness  to  indolence,  vice  and  crime  ? 

Mr.  S.  dwelt  much  on  the  importance,  the  necessity  of  making 
this  desire  in  our  blacks  to  emigrate,  strong  and  constant,  inas- 
much as  their  efforts  to  go  would  be  proportioned  to  its  strength 
and  constancy.  He  would  teach  them  that  America  is  not 
their  home — that  here  they  cannot  throw  off  their  degrada- 
tion ; and  that  never  until  they  strike  the  soil  of  Africa,  can  they 
hold  up  their  heads  in  manly  independence.  Mr.  S.  illustrated 
the  feasibleness  of  even  our  poorest  blacks  getting  to  Africa, 
though  entirely  unaided,  by  referring  to  the  thousands  and  tens  of 
thousands  of  pennyless  foreigners,  who  annually  flock  to  our 
shores.  The  oppressions  which  these  foreigners  suffer  at  home, 
and  the  happy  prospects  that  allure  them  to  America,  make  them 
willing,  even  to  sell  themselves  for  their  passage-money  in  order 
to  get  here.  Why  wnll  not  like  causes,  in  the  case  of  our  blacks, 
produce  like  effects ; and  they,  even  the  poorest  and  least  assisted 
of  them,  be  seen  flocking  by  thousands  to  Africa,  where  the  prices 
of  labor  are,  and  for  a long  time  will  be,  twice  as  great  as  here  ? 


21 


Mr.  S.  denied,  that  the  emigration  of  our  blacks  must  be  limited 
io  such  of  them,  as  are  now  free,  and  their  descendants.  Our 
southern  slaveholders  are  as  kind-hearted  and  as  generous  men  as 
w’e  are,  and  they  deplore  the  evils  of  slavery,  for  which  they  are 
no  more  chargeable  than  ourselves,  as  much  as  we  do.  The  own- 
ers of  thousands  of  slaves  are  now  impatient  to  emancipate  them  ; 
but  cannot  do  so  consistently  W'ith  the  laws  under  which  they  live, 
nor  consistently  with  kindness  to  their  slaves,  until  a way  is  pro- 
vided for  their  removal.  Our  slaveholders  will  give  up  their 
slaves  for  emigration  to  Africa,  full  as  fast  as  the  colony  there  can 
receive  them — full  as  fast  as  the  Northern  states  will  aid  the  re- 
moval of  them. 

Mr.  S.  expressed  his  great  pleasure  in  the  prospect  of  there  be- 
ing a New-York  State  Colonization  Society.  Our  state  had  been 
slow  to  move  in  this  subject,  but  he  trusted  she  would,  at  last,  move 
in  it  in  her  strength.  He  was  persuaded,  that  the  people  of  this  state 
needed  but  to  become  acquainted  wnth  the  American  Colonization 
Society,  in  order  to  appreciate  it,  and  to  respond  liberally  to  its 
claims  upon  them.  He  was  persuaded,  that  no  cause  is  united  to 
make  so  powerful  an  appeal  as  this  could  to  the  heart  of  the  Ameri- 
can Christian,  and  to  the  heart  of  the  American  patriot — for  here  it 
is  not  alone  the  2,000,000  of  blacks  in  our  own  land,  whose  spir- 
itual interests  the  Christian  is  called  on  to  serve,  but  the  hundred 
millions  of  immortal  beings  in  benighted  Africa  to  wdiom  the  socie- 
ty gives  him  access.  And  surely,  the  American  patriot  could 
never  survey  this  land  without  the  recollection  of  his  country's 
greatest,  it  might  almost  be  said,  only  danger,  mingling  with  his 
delightful  and  exulting  anticipations,  the  gloomiest  forebodings. 
Are  we  Christians  ? Are  we  patriots  ? Let  us  be  persuaded  then, 
that  in  either  character  the  Colonization  Society  offers  us  a work 
to  do — and  by  all  that  is  excellent  in  our  holy  religion,  and  by  all 
that  we  love  in  our  dear  country,  let  us  engage  in  that  work 
heartily. 

The  resolution  was  thereupon  unanimously  adopted. 

Mr.  B.  P.  Johnson,  from  the  committee  appointed  at  the  last 
meeting,  reported  a draught  of  a constitution,  and  on  his  motion, 
seconded  by  Mr,  J.  B.  Skinner,  of  Genesee,  it  was  adopted. 

A committee  consisting  of  Charles  R.  Webster,  of  Albany, 
Walter  Hubbell,  of  Ontario,  William  H.  Maynard,  of  Oneida, 


22 


Alonzo  C.  Paige,  of  Schenectady,  and  John  T.  Norton,  of  Albany, 
was  appointed  to  make  a nomination  of  the  officers  of  the  society. 

Rev.  Isaac  Orr,  the  agent  of  the  American  Colonization  Society, 
then  addressed  the  meeting,  and  related  a variety  of  interesting 
facts  in  relation  to  the  colony  at  Liberia,  on  the  coast  of  Africa.* 
Mr.  Webster,  from  the  nominating  committee,  reported  the  fol- 
lowing names,  which  report  was  accepted,  and  the  gentlemen 
elected  officers  of  the  society. 

JOHN  SAVAGE,  President 


Vice-Presidents. 


1st  district — James  Milnor, 

2d  “ N.  P.  Tallmadge, 


3d 

4th 


Eliphalet  Nott,  1 Tth 
Luther  Bradish,  8th 


5th  district — Gerrit  Smith, 
6th  “ Samuel  Nelson, 


Benjamin  F.  Butler, 
Harmanus  Bleecker, 
Charles  R.  Webster, 


N.  W.  Howell, 
“ David  E.  Evans. 

Managers, 

Jabez  D.  Hammond, 

John  Willard, 

Richard  Yates,  Treasurer^ 


Richard  Varick  De  Witt,  Secretary. 

On  motion  of  S.  M.  Hopkins,  Resolved,  That  the  Colonization 
Society  should  be  kept  separate  from  all  local  and  party  considera- 
tions— that  it  should  endeavor  by  every  proper  method,  and  espe- 
cially by  circulating  suitable  publications,  to  unite  in  its  favor  all 
classes  of  people  throughout  our  country  ; and  that  for  the  attain- 
ment of  objects  so  important,  it  should  be  ready  to  give  up  every 
thing  but  the  principles  and  object  of  its  existence,  and  the  lawful 
and  honorable  means  of  its  prosperity. 

On  motion  of  Jabez  D.  Hammond,  Esq.  seconded  by  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Campbell,  an  agent  of  the  American  Society, 

Resolved,  That  the  distracted  and  miserable  state  of  Africa 
calls  loudly  for  our  commiseration  and  charitable  efforts  ; and  that 
the  Colonization  Society  is  pursuing  by  far  the  most  probable,  if 
not  the  only  means,  of  enlightening  the  benighted  and  savage 
tribes  of  that  continent,  and  of  raising  them  to  the  rank  and  the 
blessings  of  Christian  nations. 

Resolved,  That  the  proceedings  of  this  meeting  be  published  in 
the  several  papers  of  this  city. 

Thereupon  the  meeting  adjourned. 

ELISHA  JENKINS,  Chaii'man. 

James  O.  Morse,  Secretary. 


* The  meeting  was,  at  different  periods  of  its  deliberations,  addressed  by 
the  gentlemen  who  moved  or  seconded  resolutions,  and  by  other  gentle- 
men who  took  part  in  the  proceedings. 


23 


To  the  People  of  the  State  of  JWw- York : • 
The  Managers  of  the  New-York  State  Colonization  Society 
commend  the  foregoing  proceedings  to  the  attentive  consideration 
and  the  favorable  notice  of  their  fellow  citizens  throughout  the 
state.  Being  themselves  deeply  impressed  with  a sense  of  the 
great  importance  of  the  subject,  they  are  anxious  to  awaken,  ia 
the  minds  of  others,  corresponding  emotions. 

The  general  objects  of  the  American  Colonization  Society  are 
so  well  known,  and  the  arguments  in  their  support  so  fully  exhib- 
ited in  the  preceding  pages,  that  it  is  deemed  unnecessary,  in  this 
appeal,  to  enlarge  on  those  topics  further  than  to  state — that  the 
colony  at  Liberia  now  numbers  about  1400  souls  and  is  daily  en- 
creasing  in  strength,  intelligence,  and  the  means  of  happiness  ; — 
that  the  accounts  received  from  it  during  the  present  year,  though 
in  some  particulars  calamitous  and  saddening — (we  allude  more 
especially  to  the  death  of  Dr.  Randall) — are,  upon  the  whole,  of 
the  most  cheering  character  ; — that  new  evidence  is  furnished  in 
every  communication  received  from  the  colonists . and  from  those 
who  visit  them,  of  the  practicability  and  usefulness  of  building 
up  the  little  state,  whose  foundations  have  been  laid  by  American 
benevolence ; — that  many  hundred  applicants  for  a passage  are 
now  on  the  books  of  the  society  at  Washington  ; — that  several 
masters  of  slaves  have  long  been  waiting  for  an  opportunity  to 
emancipate  them  ; — and  that  such  are  the  embarrassments  under 
which  the  parent  institution  is  now  laboring,  that  its  managers 
have  recently  felt  themselves  compelled  to  state,  “ that  unless  the 
contributions  to  their  cause  this  season,  shall  exceed  the  amount 
of  receipts  in  any  former  year,  it  will  be  difficult,  if  not  impossi, 
ble,  to  send  off  a single  expedition.” 

Under  these  circumstances,  we  earnestly  solicit  the  active  co- 
operation of  the  people  of  New-York.  We  are  persuaded,  that 
if  the  Christians,  the  patriots  and  tlie  philanthropists  of  our  state, 
will  but  reflect  on  the  immense  good  that  has  already  been  accom- 
plished, and  look  forward  to  the  still  greater  results  which  may  be 
confidently  expected  from  continued  exertions,  they  will  not  suf- 
fer this  great  experiment  to  be  abandoned.  We  seek  not  to  divert 
their  sympathies  or  their  efforts,  from  other  plans  of  benevolence  ; 
we  ask  only  that  this  stupendous  work — a work  destined  to  exert 
the  widest  influence,  on  the  character,  interests  and  prospects — 


not  only  of  America  and  Africa,  but  of  the  whole  family  of  man — 
may  receive  its  just  measure  of  support. 

The  most  efficient  means  of  permanent  assistance,  will  be  found 
in  the  establishment  of  associations  in  the  interior,  auxiliary  to 
the  state  society.  If  such  a society  were  formed  in  each  county 
of  the  state,  a moderate  contribution  from  each  member,  with  a 
yearly  collection  in  the  churches,  would  produce  a sum  in  the 
state  of  New-York,  without  injury  or  inconvenience  to  any  one, 
which  would  not  only  furnish  from  year  to  year,  new  proofs  of  her 
liberality  and  benevolence,  but  in  its  reflex  operation  on  other 
portions  of  the  Union,  and  on  public  opinion,  would  probably  se- 
cure, the  successful  progress,  and  the  ultimate  triumph,  of  the 
great  object  in  view.  We  therefore  respectfully  urge  the  speedy 
formation,  and  the  vigorous  support,  of  such  societies  ; and  we 
indulge  the  hope  that  an  appeal  will  not  be  made  in  vain.  The 
form  of  a constitution  will  be  found  in  the  second  page  ; to  which 
it  is  only  necessary  to  add,  that  whenever  an  auxiliary  shall  be 
formed,  notice  thereof,  with  the  names  of  its  officers,  should  be 
transmitted  to  the  secretary  of  the  state  society. 

The  managers  beg  leave  also  to  reiterate  the  request  made  to 
the  clergy  of  all  denominations  in  this  state,  prior  to  the  fourth  of 
July  last  ; and  to  remind  those  who  were  prevented  from  taking 
up  a collection  pursuant  to  that  request,  that  the  omision  may  yet 
he  supplied  / and  that  the  reasons  already  urged  in  favor  of  the 
measure,  are  greatly  strengthened  by  the  pressing  wants  of  the 
parent  society. 

BENJAMIN  F.  BUTLER, 
HARMANUS  BLEECKER, 
CHARLES  R.  WEBSTER, 

JABEZ  D.  HAMMOND, 

JOHN  WILLARD, 

Managers  of  the  New-York  State  Colonization  Society. 

Albany,  August,  1829. 


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